After 16 years, the body parts found in a burning black bag in Georgia have been recognized as those of a 24-year-old woman from New York City.
In a statement made Wednesday, the Troup County Sheriff’s Office named Nicole Alston as the woman whose body was found on December 6, 2007, without a head.
The police said they talked to Alston’s family and found out she moved to the Atlanta area in the summer of 2006 and wasn’t seen or heard from again.
The black bag was still on fire when police found it near an intersection. They quickly realized that it held some of the body.
The person was missing their hands, feet, and head.
“At that point in the investigation, the remains were sent to the GBI Crime Lab to try and determine an identification,” says the statement. “The only determination made was that it was an obvious homicide and the victim was an unidentified adult black female.”
It was years before the case was looked into again. But at the beginning of 2023, “this case along with DNA was sent to Innovative Forensic Investigations” in Virginia and Gene by Gene Laboratories in Texas.
Yesterday, investigators were told that there was a good match on the remains after they were tested.
“Now that an identification on the victim has been made, our Criminal Investigators will continue to move forward with this homicide investigation,” the statement says. “Our appreciation to Innovative Forensic Investigations, Gene by Gene Laboratories and the GBI for their assistance in this 16 year old case.”
If you know anything about this case, please call the Criminal Investigation Division of the sheriff’s office at (706) 883-1616 or La Grange Crime Stoppers at (706) 812-1000.